Leslye Headland’s description for The Acolyte described the show as “Frozen meets Kill Bill in Star Wars”, and when the show was pitched to Kathleen Kennedy everyone in attendance was in tears. This from the show’s producers Rayne Roberts and Simon Emanuel in the latest issue of SFX Magazine…
“Leslye said it was Frozen meets Kill Bill in Star Wars,” producer Rayne Roberts tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features Doctor Who on the cover. “It immediately communicated a kind of emotional entanglement and also high-octane action. It was like, ‘I think I understand what that is,’ and it started a conversation that led to me elevating her pitch, ultimately up to Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president]. Leslye is an amazing storyteller and when she finally pitched Kathy, everyone was crying. It was that kind of meeting.”
“The thing I picked up on and got very excited about was Kill Bill,” adds producer Simon Emanuel. “One of the things we talked about really early on was action, and I really believe that, in these kinds of shows, action has to be a character. It can’t just be, ‘Give me a punch, give me a lightsaber fight…’ So I introduced Leslye to a guy called Chris Clark Cowan, who was our action designer, and part of the team who worked on the Darth Vader sequence in Rogue One. Leslye and Chris completely fell in love, and action became such a component of this story. For me, it’s the best action the franchise has seen – and there’s so much of it.”
Read more in the new issue of SFX Magazine out now. Stream the first two episodes of The Acolyte on Disney+ from June 4th in the US and June 5th in Europe and the UK.
